Methods and systems for global sales forecasting

ABSTRACT

A method of generating a real time global sales forecast for a company includes steps of defining an hierarchical structure for a sales force of the company and defining a place within the structure for each member thereof. Original pipeline sales information may then be remotely entered by members of the sales force and tagged to the customer, to the relevant product and/or services and to that member of the sales force having entered it. Pipeline sales information included in the original pipeline sales information may then be selectively modified to generate forecast sales information that is also stored and tagged. The original pipeline sales information is maintained unchanged in the database. The stored sales forecast and/or pipeline information may then be selectively aggregated according to the hierarchical structure to generate a real time sales forecast over a selected time period.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the management of international and globalorganizations. More particularly, the present invention relates to thegeneration of real time sales forecasts for large organizations, such asmulti-national corporations.

2. Description of the Related Art

Effective management of large business entities or complex projectsrequires that the decision-makers be provided with accurate and timelyinformation. Inaccurate and out of date information cannot model thehistorical or present behavior of the entity with any degree ofcertainty, nor can such data provide a reliable basis for projections offuture performance. Such imperfect information naturally skews thedecision making process, and the company's behavior in the marketplacemay not be as nimble as it might otherwise have been with more accurateand timely information.

Sales forecasting is an example where the need for timely information ishighest. Inaccurate or out of date sales forecasting informationprovides the decision maker, such as the CEO of a large multinationalcompany, with a skewed view of the direction in which his or her companyis proceeding. In turn, such out of date and inaccurate salesforecasting information may impair the decision maker's ability toimplement anticipatory corrective measures, or to accuratelycharacterize the anticipated performance of the company whencommunicating with industry analysts, for example.

Typically, regional sales forecasting information is gathered fromsalespersons within a sales force of a large corporation and inputted ona spreadsheet computer program. These spreadsheets may then be manuallyand painstakingly merged together to create regional sales forecasts,territorial sales forecasts and national sales forecasts. These nationalSales forecasts are typically expressed in as many national currenciesas the number of countries in which the company maintains a sales force.Such national forecasts are typically prepared by the financialdepartment of the company's national headquarters. The national salesforecasts, in turn, must be converted into a preferred currency(typically the currency of the country in which the company worldheadquarters is located) and individually merged by the financialdepartment of the company's world headquarters to form a global salesforecast for the company.

It can be appreciated, however, that this process of gathering salesinformation, inputting the sales information into spreadsheets,converting the currencies and merging the spreadsheets is a burdensome,slow and costly process. Indeed, by the time the global sales forecastreaches the CEO or other high-level decision makers, it may notaccurately reflect current pipeline sales information or recent dealsand is thus out of date. Such out of date sales forecast furthercontributes to the inertia of large organizations, and renders them lessresponsive to today's increasingly fluid and dynamic marketplace as theymight otherwise be if they were to be provided with timely forecastingabilities.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide largeorganizations with methods and systems to generate real time salesforecasts upon demand. In particular, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide methods and systems to provide multi-nationalcorporations with methods and systems to securely generate real timeglobal sales forecasts at any level of the sales force hierarchy, acrossproduct lines, sales teams or any other subset, combination orpermutation thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide methods andsystems for generating real time sales forecasts upon demand. Anotherobject of the present invention is to provide methods and systems toprovide multi-national corporations with methods and systems to securelygenerate real time global sales forecasts at any level of the salesforce hierarchy. In accordance with the above-described objects andthose that will be mentioned and will become apparent below, acomputer-implemented method of generating a real time global salesforecast for a multi-national company, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention, includes steps of defining an hierarchical structurefor a sales force of the company; defining a place within thehierarchical structure for each member of the sales force; acceptingoriginal pipeline sales information remotely entered by members of thesales force over a computer network; storing the original pipeline salesinformation in a database, the stored original pipeline salesinformation being tagged to that member of the sales force havingentered the original pipeline sales information; selectively modifyingpipeline sales information included in the stored original pipelinesales information to generate forecast sales information whilemaintaining the stored original pipeline sales information unchanged;storing the forecast sales information in the database and tagging thestored forecast sales information to that member of the sales forcehaving modified the pipeline sales information; and selectivelyaggregating the stored sales forecast information according to ahierarchy indicated by the hierarchical structure to generate, uponrequest, a real time sales forecast over a selected time period.

The hierarchical structure may be a global sales hierarchical structurethat includes a national hierarchical sales structure for each countrywhere the company maintains a sales force. The original pipeline salesinformation may be accepted in a plurality of national currencies andthe selective aggregation step may include the steps of selecting atleast one currency of the plurality of currencies in which the real timesales forecast is to be generated, and converting the aggregated storedforecast information to the selected at least one currency. The originalpipeline sales information may be accepted in a plurality of nationalcurrencies and the aggregating step may include the step of selectivelyaggregating the stored sales forecast information of each nationalhierarchical sales structure in at least one of the plurality ofnational currencies; converting a currency of each aggregated storedsales forecast information into the at least one of the plurality ofnational currencies, and aggregating each of the currency-converted andaggregated stored sales forecast information to generate the real timeglobal sales forecast.

The pipeline sales information-storing steps may include steps oftransmitting the pipeline sales information to the database over thecomputer network. The network may include the Internet. Each member ofthe sales force of the company may be assigned a permission level, theassigned permission level determining which stored sales forecastinformation are aggregated in the real time sales forecast. A real timesales forecast may be generated by aggregating only stored salesforecast information and/or stored pipeline sales information of thosemembers of the sales force having a lower permission level than a memberof the sales force having requested the real time sales forecast. A stepof granting a global permission level may be carried out, the globalpermission level enabling that member of the sales force to whom it isgranted to generate a real time sales forecast including all storedsales forecast information and/or all stored pipeline sales information.The sales force may include C-level executives of the company,irrespective of whether the C-level executives have salesresponsibilities. A step of granting a special permission level may begranted, the special permission level enabling a person to whom it isgranted to generate a real time sales forecast of selected stored salesforecast information and/or selected pipeline sales information.

The present invention is also a computer-implemented method ofgenerating a real time aggregate sales forecast for a multi-nationalcompany, comprising the steps of defining a hierarchical structurerepresentative of an organization of an entire sales force of themulti-national company; providing a remotely accessible Internetapplication, the Internet application being configured to allow eachmember of the sales force to remotely input pipeline and/or forecastsales information via an Internet browser and to store the at least oneof inputted sales and forecast information in a single database;selectively allowing the pipeline and/or sales information to be rolledup the hierarchical structure upon request and summed to generate theaggregate sales forecast over a selected time period.

The rolling up step may be carried out to a highest level in thehierarchical structure and the aggregate sales forecast may be a globalsales forecast for the multi-national company. The selectively allowingstep may include steps of assigning a permission level to eachsalesperson within the sales force according to a position of eachmember of the sales force within the hierarchical structure and theassigned permission level may determine what pipeline and/or salesforecast information may be included in the aggregated sales forecast.At least the Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of the multi-national companymay be assigned a highest permission level. The selectively allowingstep may further include steps of assigning a special permission levelto a person, the special permission level being uncorrelated to aposition of the person within the hierarchical structure.

According to a still further embodiment thereof, the present inventionis a computer system adapted to generate of a global sales forecast fora multi-national company, comprising a database; a plurality computers,each of the computers being adapted to access the database over theInternet; a global sales forecasting application, the application beingaccessible from a secure Web site by the plurality of computers, theforecasting application being adapted to accept original pipeline salesinformation, to store the accepted pipeline sales information in thedatabase and to allow selective access thereto by the plurality ofcomputers depending upon an assigned permission level.

The forecasting application may be adapted to express the originalpipeline sales information into one or more selected currencies. Theforecasting application may be adapted to selectively aggregate storedpipeline sales information according to a hierarchy of a sales force ofthe company and depending upon the assigned permission level of a personmaking the request. The forecasting application may be adapted to allowselected members of the sale force to selectively modify pipeline salesinformation included in the original pipeline sales information tocreate forecast sales information over a specified period of time. Thestored original pipeline information is preferably maintained unchangedand stored separately from the forecast sales information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a further understanding of the objects and advantages of the presentinvention, reference should be made to the following detaileddescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a hierarchy representative of the organization of the salesforce of a large, multi-national corporation.

FIG. 2 shows the hierarchy of FIG. 1, in which sales forecast and/orpipeline sales information are selectively rolled up, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a representation of the method and system of generatingglobal sales forecasts, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system with which anembodiment of the present invention may be implemented.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Functional Description

FIG. 1 shows a hierarchy 100 representative of the organization of thesales force of a large, multi-national corporation called Augur Corp.,for illustrative purposes. As shown therein, the hierarchicalorganization of Augur's sales force follows a generally pyramidalstructure in which the individual account representatives (B1121 toB3325) are at the bottom levels and the Chief Executive Officer(hereafter “CEO”) position is at the top level. In the example shown inFIG. 1, Augur Corp. has three main divisions; namely, Division 1covering the North American sales territory, Division 2 covering theEurope sales territory and Division 3 covering the Asian salesterritory. The division-level positions within the hierarchical salesstructure may be occupied by persons of the Vice-President level withinthe company. The Division 1, 2 and 3 positions may havehierarchically-lower Regional Manager positions reporting thereto suchas A1, B1, C1; A2, B2, C2 and A3, B3, C3, respectively. Each of theRegional Manager positions A1 through C3 has a number of other SalesManagers at hierarchically lower positions that reports thereto. Forexample, the Sales Manager positions B11, B112 and B113 report directlyto the Regional Manager occupying position B1 within Augur Corp. Inturn, a number of Account Supervisor positions B111 through B333 reportto the Sales Manager positions B1 through B33. In turn, in the exampleof FIG. 1, a number of Account Representatives positions B1121 throughB3325 report to the above-identified Account Supervisor positions. It isto be understood that not all of the positions within the salesorganization are shown in FIG. 1, for clarity of illustration. It shouldalso be understood that the hierarchical structure 100 of FIG. 1 isshown for exemplary purposes only, and should not be construed to limitthe scope of the present invention in any way. Indeed, the presentinvention is applicable to any sales organization, whatever the form ofthe hierarchical or logical structure thereof. Moreover, theapplicability of the present invention extends beyond the realm of salesorganizations to cover any situation wherein a plurality of personsenter any type of forecast information that is selectively viewableand/or modifiable by others in the organization.

According to the present invention, once the corporation's hierarchicalsales structure for the entire global sales force of the company isdefined, as shown in FIG. 1, a place within the hierarchical salesstructure is defined for each person in the sales organization withinthe company. For example, the CEO position is occupied (in the exampleof FIG. 1) by Black, whereas the Divisions 1, 2 and 3 positions areoccupied by vice Presidents Green, White and Brown, respectively. In thesame manner, each member of the sales force of Augur Corp. is assigned aplace within the hierarchical sales organization of FIG. 1. Thehierarchical sales structure, according to the present invention, is notstatic, but is a dynamic structure wherein positions may be created anddeleted at will, as the sales outlook changes. In so doing, entire newbranches may be grafted onto or pruned from the hierarchical treestructure of FIG. 1, as needed.

In addition to being assigned a place within the hierarchical salesstructure, each member of the sales force is assigned a permissionlevel. According to the present invention, the permission leveldetermines what information is available to each person within the salesforce and in particular, what forecast information is visible,accessible and/or modifiable to and by each person. For example, theassigned permission level may be co-extensive with the person's positionwithin the sales hierarchy 100, with the higher-ranking positionsgenerally enjoying a higher permission level than lower-level salespositions in the hierarchy 100. For example, the CEO position may havethe highest permission level associated therewith, whereas theindividual sales positions (B1121 through B3325) may have the lowestpermission levels assigned thereto. In the example illustrated in FIG.1, Black has the highest permission level, and the individuals occupyingthe Account Representative positions B1121 through B3325 may be assignedthe lowest permission levels.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the entire sales force ofthe corporation is organized in a monolithic logical structure, ascompared to several small hierarchical structures organized alongterritorial, national and/or product-based lines. Having defined thehierarchical structure 100 and assigned each person within the salesforce a position therein; some means must be devised to allow relevantsales forecasting information to be inputted, stored, processed,retrieved and displayed. Rather than storing the sales forecastinformation in a plurality of databases in a potentially equal number offormats in each of the countries in which the company maintains apresence, the present invention provides for storing all forecastinginformation in a single database, referenced at 310 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 shows a representation of the method and system 300 of generatingglobal sales forecasts, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown therein, this single database 310 is adapted tostore all pipeline and forecasting information inputted by each memberof the global sales force of the corporation, irrespective of theperson's position within the sales force organization and irrespectiveof the Division he or she belongs to or the country or countries fromwhich he or she operates. It becomes necessary, therefore, to looselycouple all of the members of the sales force to allow the individualmembers thereof to input sales forecasting data into the database 310and to retrieve useful forecasts therefrom. According to the presentinvention, all of the members of the sales force of the corporation areloosely coupled to the database 310 through a computer network 312. Thecomputer network may include the Internet, for example, and/or othercommunication infrastructure. Indeed, the terms Internet and network areused interchangeably herein, and are intended to cover the Internet asit exists as of the time of this writing, and also any othercommunication infrastructure for computers and/or other network devicesyet to be developed. Security may be assured by suitable encryption ofall communications and/or by creating secure Virtual Private Networks orby other means known to those of skill in this art, such as a SecureSocket layer (SSL). As shown in FIG. 3, each member of the sales forceorganization inputs pipeline and sales forecasting information throughan Internet global forecasting application according to the presentinvention, via an Internet browser software 316 or via another suitableinterface. Therefore, with the aid of a personal computer, networkcomputer, Internet-enabled personal digital assistant, any deviceequipped with a modem or other network access device allowing remoteaccess to the corporate network or other Internet-enabled appliance(collectively shown in FIG. 3 as personal computers 318, 324), theentire global sales force throughout the world 314 may asynchronouslyinput pipeline sales information and/or sales forecasting information byusing a suitable communications application (such as Netscape Navigator,for example) and pointing the browser to a selected secure site (a WorldWide Web site, for example) established for that purpose. Upon beingproperly authenticated (through inputting a username and password, forexample), the sales person may be prompted or given the opportunity toenter, for example, pipeline sales information. The sales person mayalso be granted limited access to any information stored in the database310.

According to the present invention, pipeline sales information is theraw forecasting information entered by the sales person, be they Accountrepresentatives or any other hierarchically higher position with thesales organization. Specifically, pipeline sales information may bedefined as the value of the goods and/or services that the sales personbelieves he or she will sell to a given customer over a specified periodof time. Pipeline sales information represents an important part of theraw data upon which much of the global sales forecasting abilities ofthe present invention are based. The pipeline sales information may bespecified in the national currency of the country in which the customerand/or the sales person is based, although the pipeline salesinformation may later be expressed in the any currency the user maychoose. For example, if the sales person occupying sales position B2224expects to sell 5,000 worth of identified goods to a specified companywithin his or her territory (in this case, the United Kingdom) duringthe upcoming 4^(th) quarter, 5,000 would be the pipeline forecast amountfor that sales person, that customer, those identified goods and thattime period. In this case, the currency of the pipeline salesinformation is, the British Pound.

Returning now to the Augur Corp. example developed above with referenceto FIGS. 2 and 3, according to the present invention, the sales personoccupying the B2224 position may access and log onto Augur Corp.'ssecure Web site with a browser software 316, for example, and inputoriginal pipeline information for that time period and that customer.The entered original pipeline information is then securely transmittedover the network 312 and stored in Augur Corp.'s database 310. Thepipeline sales information may be tagged to the customer, the relevantproducts and/or services in question and to the position and the name ofthe person having entered it; namely, sales person B2224 in thisexample. Similar original pipelines sales information may be entered byeach member of the sales force and stored in the database 310, eachoriginal pipeline information entry being tagged to the customer, to therelevant products and/or services and to the sales force member'sposition in the hierarchy 100 and to the sales force member's name. Eachpipeline information entry may be expressed in the national currency ofthe country in which the sales person and/or customer is located and/orany other selected currency. The original pipeline sales information ismaintained unchanged in the database 310.

However, the original pipeline sales information may not accuratelyreflect the actual anticipated sales for a particular customer and/orparticular goods or services. Indeed, the direct hierarchical superiorof the sales person having entered the original pipeline information mayhave additional information not available or disclosed to his or hersubordinate, which additional information may affect the originalpipeline information. Alternately, the sales person's manager may knowthat this sales person usually enters overly conservative or undulyaggressive pipeline sales information. Therefore, persons within thesales force occupying positions within the hierarchy that are higherthan that of the sales person having entered the pipeline informationmay modify pipeline sales information included in the original pipelinesales information by increasing or decreasing it, at their discretion.This modified pipeline sales information then, according to the presentinvention, becomes forecast information. Forecast information,therefore, represents a greater level of maturity and confidence thatmay not be present in the original pipeline information. The forecastinformation is also entered through a suitable Internet application,such as a Web browser 316, tagged to the person (and to his or herposition within the hierarchy 100) having modified the pipeline salesinformation and stored in the database 310. Therefore, according to thepresent invention, both pipeline and forecast information may be enteredby the sales force, transmitted over the network 312 and stored in thedatabase 310, together with tagging information that identifies thecustomer, products and/or service and the specific member of the salesforce (by position and name) having entered and/or modified the pipelineand/or forecast sales information. Indeed, the pipeline and/or forecastinformation may include, for example, an identification of the goodsand/or services to be sold, an identification of the customer, the timeframe during which the pipeline and/or forecasted sales are to takeplace, among others. This other information is also entered, tagged tothe sales force member having entered it and stored within the database310.

The entered pipeline and sales information, however, should not beuniversally accessible by all members of the sales organization. Forexample, the member of the sales force occupying the Sales Managerposition B11 should have access to the pipeline and forecast salesinformation entered and/or modified by his or her hierarchically-lowerAccount Supervisors B111, B112 and B113 and entered by those Accountrepresentatives (e.g., B1121-B1125, among others) that report to him.However, the Sales Manager B11 may have no reason to access eitherpipeline or forecast information from Sales Managers B12, B13 (eventhough B12 and B13 belong to the same Division as B11) or that of anyother Sales Manager or any hierarchically higher Regional manager,Division Head or CEO. To restrict access to the pipeline and/or forecastinformation, the assigned permission levels are used. In general, thepermission levels for access pipeline and/or forecast informationmatches a sales force member's hierarchical position within the salesorganization, unless such sales force member belongs to an “overlayorganization” that participates in the opportunity and has permission toadd information to it, but does not “own” the corresponding forecast.Moreover, unless modified, a member of the sales force may only access(read and/or modify) pipeline and/or forecast information tagged tohierarchically lower members within a same branch of the hierarchicaltree structure. For example, although the sales force member occupyingthe Sales Manager position B11 may access only that pipeline and/orforecast information of those members of the sales forces reporting tohim. In this example, although B11 may access the pipeline and/orforecast information tagged to underlings B111, B112 and B113, B11 maynot access the pipeline and/or forecast information tagged to B121 orB231, even though these positions are hierarchically lower than the B11position, as B121 and B231 do not report to B11.

As suggested by the horizontal hashed doubled headed arrow in FIG. 2,special permission levels may be defined, thereby allowing any member ofthe sales force (or any other designated person) to access pipelineand/or forecast information tagged to positions that do not report tothem, subject to the restriction regarding “overlay organizations”detailed above. In the example shown in FIG. 2, Account Supervisors B112and A312 may share a same permission level, enabling them to access eachother's pipeline and/or forecast information, in addition to thepipeline and/or forecast information tagged to positions directlyreporting to each of them. This shared permission level may beestablished to share information when sharing a deal. However, forecastresponsibility for a deal cannot be shared, as a deal cannot be forecasttwice. Forecast of a deal may nevertheless be split between two or moresalespersons, for example. In the same manner, any member of the salesforce (or any other selected person, even if such person is not a partof the sales force, such as a technician) may be granted any level ofposition, whether higher or lower than his or her hierarchical positionin the sales organization, again subject to the restriction regarding“overlay organizations” detailed above. For example, a single person maybe responsible for a single product or a family of related products,across the entire corporation. Such a person may be granted a specialpermission level to enable him or her to access specified all pipelineand/or forecast information related to the product or family of productsat a global level, across all divisions. For example, such a personmight belong to a finance department dealing with revenue forecasts. Thespecified pipeline and/or forecast information may be restricted to aspecific time frame, a specific product or family of products, or anyclass of information entered by any member of the sales force into thedatabase 310 of FIG. 3. Moreover, the permissions granted may be furtherrestricted to read only, to pipeline information only, to forecastinformation only or to any combination thereof. Further, permissions maybe defined for a specific deal or deals for a specific customer orcustomers. Such permissions may automatically expire upon the occurrenceof a specified event or combination of events. Such a fine-grainedcontrol over the granting of permissions allows a high degree of controlover what pipeline and/or forecast information seen by each member ofthe sales force sees.

As graphically represented in FIG. 2, the generation of pipeline and/orforecasting information is carried out by “rolling up”, or aggregatingthe pipeline and/or forecast information entered and/or modified athierarchically lower positions in the corporate sales organization. Thepipeline and/or forecast information that is aggregated may be asspecific as the underlying pipeline information that is initiallyentered into the database 310. Indeed, the rolled up forecast mayrepresent the forecast for all goods and services whose sale isanticipated during the specified future time period, or as specific asthe aggregate value of rebates on the future sale of a specified productfor a specified subsidiary of a specified customer over a specifiedperiod of time. Indeed, the granularity of the forecast is limited onlyby the granularity of the underlying raw data; namely, the pipelineinformation.

Considering now FIGS. 2 and 3 collectively, Account Supervisor B112 maywant to generate a forecast for the sales of a particular product over aspecified future time period, based upon the pipeline informationentered by those Account representatives that report to her; namelyAccount representatives B1121 through B1125. After individuallyreviewing the pipeline information entered by each Accountrepresentative B1121 through B1125, B112 may cause a forecast to begenerated, as graphically represented in FIG. 3 by “rolling up” theforecast information for each of the Account representatives B1121through B1125 that report to her. This may be done by issuing anappropriate query (predetermined query run by clicking on a “forecasttab”, for example, on the user's screen—see reference 320 in FIG. 3) tothe database 310 via an Internet browser running the global forecastingapplication according to the present invention. As a result, AccountSupervisor B112 will see a forecast 322 (covering the next quarter, forexample) including the aggregate (the sum) of the sales forecasts foreach of her Account Representatives B1121 through B1125. For example,suppose that the Augur's Account representatives in Japan A3322 andA3334 enter the following information into the database 310, indicatingthat one of Augur Corp.'s customers, ABC, Inc. plans to purchase thefollowing items:

Account Customer Item Amount Close Date Representative ABC, Inc.Widgets1 $600,000 Dec. 2 A3322 ABC, Inc. Widgets2 $400,000 Dec. 2 A3334

The $400,000 and $600,000 amounts, therefore, become the pipelineinformation. With reference to FIG. 3, Account Representative A3322reports to Account Supervisors A332 and A333, respectively. Therefore,unless other permissions have been granted Account Supervisors A332 andA333, each may only view the pipeline amounts entered by those reportingto them: Account Supervisor A332 may only access and/or modify the$600,000 pipeline information for Widgets1 and Account Supervisor A333may only access and/or modify the $400,000 pipeline information forWidgets2. A332 may have previous experience with Account RepresentativeA3322 and know that the pipeline information entered by A3322 ishistorically about 10% under the actual number of Widgetsl that aresubsequently actually sold to ABC, Inc. Therefore, A332 may modify the$600,000 pipeline information and enter 660,000 as the forecasted saleof Widgetsl to ABC, Inc. Likewise, A333 may have knowledge regardingABC, Inc. than that of Account representative A3334 and she may believethat ABC, inc. will require $500,000 worth of Widgets2 by the close dateof December 2. A333 may then modify the pipeline information and enterthe revised amount of $500,000, which is also stored into the database310 and tagged to A333. The originally entered pipeline information,however, remains unchanged and available at all times in the database310.

Indeed, A332 may view (on a Web page, for example) the current (realtime) pipeline information by customer (as opposed to by product, assuggested at reference 320 in FIG. 3) according to the presentinvention, as follows:

Account Customer Widgets1 Widgets2 Close Date Total Rep. ABC, Inc.$600,000 Dec. 2 $600,000 A3322

Likewise, A333 may view the current pipeline information according tothe present invention, as follows:

Account Customer Widgets1 Widgets2 Close Date Total Rep. ABC, Inc.$400,000 Dec. 2 $400,000 A3334

The pipeline sales information for Widgets2 is not available to A332, asAccount representative A3334 does not report to A332. In other words,the permission level assigned to A332 will not allow A332 to accesspipeline and/or sales forecast information from those members of thesales force not directly reporting to the A332 position. Similarly, thepipeline sales information for Widgets1 is not available to A333, asAccount representative A3322 does not report to A333. In other words,the permission level assigned to A333 will not allow A333 to accesspipeline and/or sales forecast information from those members of thesales force not directly reporting to the A333 position.

In any event, Sales Manager A33, to whom both A332 and A333 report, mayrun the forecasting application according to the present application,and have access to and/or modify the A332 and A333's forecastinformation, as well as view the stored original pipeline informationabove. When A33 runs the forecasting application according to thepresent invention over a Web browser and accesses the stored informationin the database 310 over the computer network 312, the following may begenerated and viewed, detailing the following forecasting information:

Close Account Customer Widgets1 Widgets2 Date Total Rep. ABC, Inc.$660,000 $500,000 Dec. 2 $1,160,000 A3322, A3334 

In this case, the total forecasted sales for Customer ABC, Inc. for bothWidgetsl and Widgets2 for the period ending December 2 is $1,160,000;that is, the sum of the forecasted sales for Sales Managers A332 andA333. Sales Manager A33 may also modify the forecasted amounts forWidgets1 and/or Widgets2, based upon her judgment. Both the originalamount and the modified amounts will, however, remain stored andavailable in the database 310.

Indeed, as the pipeline sales information is maintained unchanged in thedatabase 310, A33 may view the original (or the current) pipeline salesinformation before submitting his forecast and/or may view the lastsubmitted forecast. A33 may also review the forecast at a deal level ona worksheet (Web) page, to view the forecast broken down by deal andsales or account representative, for example, as follows.

Close Account Customer Widgets1 Widgets2 Date Total Rep. ABC, Inc.$600,000 $400,000 Dec. 2 $1,000,000 A3322, A3334 

In like manner, Regional Manager B3 may view a pipeline and/or aforecast by rolling up (summing) the pipeline and/or forecastinformation of all those directly or indirectly reporting to him. Asshown in FIG. 2, the rolled up pipeline and/or forecast informationincludes the pipeline and/or forecast information of Regional ManagersB31, B32 and B33 that directly report to him. Regional Manager B3 mayrequest that the pipeline and/or forecast information be presented withas little or as much detail as desired. Indeed, the rolled up pipelineand/or forecast information may represent anticipated sales acrossproduct lines or for a single product, for any time period for whichpipeline information exists, for all Account Supervisors or for a singleselected Account Supervisor or even down to the deal and Salesrepresentative level. Any member of the sales force, therefore, maydrill down as far as the most granular level available, as long as hisor her assigned permission level allows it.

Likewise, Division Head White may generate a pipeline and/or forecast inreal time by causing the application according to the present inventionto aggregate all stored information corresponding to the parametersentered by those in the European sales force reporting to her. is Suchreports may be generated in one of the national currencies of Europe orin any other selected currency. For example, Division 2 Head White mayselect a currency (or currencies, such as the US dollar and the Euro) inwhich the real time sales forecast is to be generated, and the storedforecast information may be converted into that selected currency orcurrencies prior to or after the relevant information is summed tocreate the forecast. Alternatively, the stored sales forecastinformation of each national hierarchical sales structure (e.g., that ofFrance, Germany, England, for example) may be selectively aggregated inthe corresponding national currency (The French Franc, the German Markand the British Pound in this example). Thereafter, the currency of eachof the aggregated sales forecast information may be converted into aselected currency, which selected currency may be one of the nationalcurrencies of the hierarchically lower national sales hierarchicalstructures or another selected currency altogether. Each of thecurrency-converted and aggregated stored sales forecast information maythen be aggregated to generate a real time sales forecast at theDivision Level. Accuracy in foreign exchange may be maintained byaccessing, through the network 312 (the Internet, for example) reliablesources of foreign exchange information contemporaneously with thegeneration of the real time forecast. The foreign exchange informationmay also be pulled from General Ledger (GL) tables of an accountingapplication that include monthly, weekly, daily average and/or actualcurrency exchange rates, for example. Similarly, CEO Black may generatecompany wide global real time forecasts including the pipeline and/orsales information tagged to all members of the multi-national salesforce. Such forecasts may include as little or as much detail as isdesired, and may be generated at a high level (across Divisions 1, 2 and3) or at the lowest level (i.e., down to the pipeline informationentered by any of the individual Sales Representatives B1121 et seq.).With specific reference to FIG. 2, CEP Black may, through a computer 318connected to the network 312, request a forecast by entering theparameters for the desired forecast in a first screen, such as shown at320. In the case illustrated in FIG. 3, a Summary by Product forecast isrequested. In response to parameters entered by CEO Black, the database310 is accessed and a forecast is generated corresponding to theparameters entered by aggregating the stored forecast informationremotely entered by each of the relevant members of the sales forcethrough respective computers 324 (or other network-connected devices)connected to the network 312. The forecast may be presented to CEO Blackon a second screen, such as shown at 322. The forecast generated forBlack, in this case, is a real time global and company wide summary offorecasted sales for Widgets1 and Widgets2, to use the example developedabove. The forecast is real time, because it is as current as the mostrecent pipeline and/or forecast sales information entered by any of themembers of the company's sales force. Global (or company-wide)forecasting, according to the present invention, therefore becomes ahighly flexible management tool, whereby forecasts are generated on thefly, using the most up-to-date pipeline and/or forecast data enteredinto the central database 310 via the Internet or other computernetwork. By virtue of such up-to-the-minute forecasting capabilities,corporations and C-level executives (e.g., CEO, CFO, COO, CTO etc.) areable to flexibly allocate human and physical resources where they willbe most effective and identify and anticipate trends in the marketplace.

Hardware Description

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system 400 with whichan embodiment of the present invention may be implemented. Computersystem 400 includes a bus 401 or other communication mechanism forcommunicating information, and a processor 402 coupled with bus 401 forprocessing information. Computer system 400 further comprises a randomaccess memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device 404 (referred to asmain memory), coupled to bus 401 for storing information andinstructions to be executed by processor 402. Main memory 404 also maybe used for storing temporary variables or other intermediateinformation during execution of instructions by processor 402. Computersystem 400 also includes a read only memory (ROM) and/or other staticstorage device 406 coupled to bus 401 for storing static information andinstructions for processor 402. A data storage device 407, such as amagnetic disk or optical disk, is coupled to bus 401 for storinginformation and instructions. A communication device 408, such as amodem or network (such as Ethernet, for example) card is also coupled tothe bus 401 to provide access to a network, such as shown at 312 in FIG.3.

The computer system 400 may also be coupled via bus 401 to a displaydevice 421, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying informationto a computer user. An alphanumeric input device 422, includingalphanumeric and other keys, is typically coupled to bus 401 forcommunicating information and command selections to processor 402.Another type of user input device is cursor control 423, such as amouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating directioninformation and command selections to processor 402 and for controllingcursor movement on display 421.

The present invention is related to the use of computer system 400 toimplement a global sales forecasting application over a computernetwork, such as the Internet. According to one embodiment, thehierarchical structure is provided by one or more computer systems 400in response to processor(s) 402 executing sequences of instructionscontained in memory 404. Such instructions may be read into memory 404from another computer-readable medium, such as data storage device 407.Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in memory 404causes processor(s) 402 to implement the global sales functionalitydescribed above. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may beused in place of or in combination with software instructions toimplement the present invention. Thus, the present invention is notlimited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

While the foregoing detailed description has described preferredembodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that theabove description is illustrative only and not limiting of the disclosedinvention. Those of skill in this art will recognize other alternativeembodiments and all such embodiments are deemed to fall within the scopeof the present invention. Thus, the present invention should be limitedonly by the claims as set forth below.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of generating areal time global sales forecast for a multi-national company, comprisingthe steps of: defining an hierarchical structure for a sales force ofthe company, the hierarchical structure being a global saleshierarchical structure that includes a national hierarchical salesstructure for each country where the company maintains a sales force;defining a place within the hierarchical structure for each member ofthe sales force; accepting original pipeline sales information remotelyentered by members of the sales force over a computer network, theoriginal pipeline sales information is accepted in a plurality ofnational currencies; storing the original pipeline sales information ina database, the stored original pipeline sales information being taggedto that member of the sales force having entered the original pipelinesales information; selectively modifying pipeline sales informationincluded in the stored original pipeline sales information to generateforecast sales information while maintaining the stored originalpipeline sales information unchanged; storing the forecast salesinformation in the database and tagging the stored forecast salesinformation to that member of the sales force having modified thepipeline sales information; and selectively aggregating the stored salesforecast information according to a hierarchy indicated by thehierarchical structure to generate, upon request, a real time globalsales forecast over a selected time period, by selectively aggregatingthe stored sales forecast information of each national hierarchicalsales structure in at least one of the plurality of national currencies,converting a currency of each aggregated stored sales forecastinformation into the at least one of the plurality of nationalcurrencies, and aggregating each of the currency-converted andaggregated stored sales forecast information to generate the real timeglobal sales forecast.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the originalpipeline sales information is accepted in a plurality of nationalcurrencies and wherein the selective aggregation step includes the stepsof: selecting at least one currency of the plurality of currencies inwhich the real time sales forecast is to be generated, and convertingthe aggregated stored forecast information to the selected at least onecurrency.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the pipeline salesinformation-storing step includes a step of transmitting the pipelinesales information to the database over the computer network.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the network includes the Internet.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein each member of the sales force of the companyis assigned a permission level, the assigned permission leveldetermining which stored sales forecast information are aggregated inthe real time sales forecast.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein a realtime sales forecast is generated by aggregating only stored salesforecast information and/or stored pipeline sales information of thosemembers of the sales force having a lower permission level than a memberof the sales force having requested the real time sales forecast.
 7. Themethod of 6, further comprising the step of granting a global permissionlevel, the global permission level enabling that member of the salesforce to whom it is granted to generate a real time sales forecastincluding all stored sales forecast information and/or all storedpipeline sales information.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the salesforce includes C-level executives of the company irrespective of whetherthe C-level executives have sales responsibilities.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising the step of granting a special permissionlevel, the special permission level enabling a person to whom it isgranted to generate a real time sales forecast of selected stored salesforecast information and/or selected pipeline sales information.
 10. Acomputer system configured for generating a real time global salesforecast for a multi-national company, comprising: at least oneprocessor; at least one data storage device coupled to said at least oneprocessor; a plurality of processes spawned by said at least oneprocessor, the processes including processing logic for: defining anhierarchical structure for a sales force of the company, thehierarchical structure being a global sales hierarchical structure thatincludes a national hierarchical sales structure for each country wherethe company maintains a sales force; defining a place within thehierarchical structure for each member of the sales force; acceptingoriginal pipeline sales information remotely entered by members of thesales force over a computer network, the original pipeline salesinformation is accepted in a plurality of national currencies; storingthe original pipeline sales information in a database, the storedoriginal pipeline sales information being tagged to that member of thesales force having entered the original pipeline sales information;selectively modifying pipeline sales information included in the storedoriginal pipeline sales information to generate forecast salesinformation while maintaining the stored original pipeline salesinformation unchanged; storing the forecast sales information in thedatabase and tagging the stored forecast sales information to thatmember of the sales force having modified the pipeline salesinformation; and selectively aggregating the stored sales forecastinformation according to a hierarchy indicated by the hierarchicalstructure to generate, upon request, a real time global sales forecastover a selected time period, by selectively aggregating the stored salesforecast information of each national hierarchical sales structure in atleast one of the plurality of national currencies; converting a currencyof each aggregated stored sales forecast information into the at leastone of the plurality of national currencies, and aggregating each of thecurrency-converted and aggregated stored sales forecast information togenerate the real time global sales forecast.
 11. The computer system ofclaim 10, wherein the original pipeline sales information is accepted ina plurality of national currencies and wherein the selective aggregationstep includes the steps of: selecting at least one currency of theplurality of currencies in which the real time sales forecast is to begenerated, and converting the aggregated stored forecast information tothe selected at least one currency.
 12. The computer system of claim 10,wherein the pipeline sales information-storing step includes a step oftransmitting the pipeline sales information to the database over thecomputer network.
 13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein thenetwork includes the Internet.
 14. The computer system of claim 10, eachmember of the sales force of the company is assigned a permission level,the assigned permission level determining which stored sales forecastinformation are aggregated in the real time sales forecast.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein a real time sales forecast is generated byaggregating only stored sales forecast information and/or storedpipeline sales information of those members of the sales force having alower permission level than a member of the sales force having requestedthe real time sales forecast.
 16. The computer system of 15, furthercomprising the step of granting a global permission level, the globalpermission level enabling that member of the sales force to whom it isgranted to generate a real time sales forecast including all storedsales forecast information and/or all stored pipeline sales information.17. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the sales force includesC-level executives of the company irrespective of whether the C-levelexecutives have sales responsibilities.
 18. The computer system of claim10, further comprising the step of granting a special permission level,the special permission level enabling a person to whom it is granted togenerate a real time sales forecast of selected stored sales forecastinformation and/or selected pipeline sales information.
 19. Amachine-readable medium having data stored thereon representingsequences of instructions which, when executed by computing device,causes said computing device to generating a real time global salesforecast for a multi-national company by performing the steps of:defining an hierarchical structure for a sales force of the company, thehierarchical structure being a global sales hierarchical structure thatincludes a national hierarchical sales structure for each country wherethe company maintains a sales force; defining a place within thehierarchical structure for each member of the sales force; acceptingoriginal pipeline sales information remotely entered by members of thesales force over a computer network, the original pipeline salesinformation is accepted in a plurality of national currencies; storingthe original pipeline sales information in a database, the storedoriginal pipeline sales information being tagged to that member of thesales force having entered the original pipeline sales information;selectively modifying pipeline sales information included in the storedoriginal pipeline sales information to generate forecast salesinformation while maintaining the stored original pipeline salesinformation unchanged; storing the forecast sales information in thedatabase and tagging the stored forecast sales information to thatmember of the sales force having modified the pipeline salesinformation; and selectively aggregating the stored sales forecastinformation according to a hierarchy indicated by the hierarchicalstructure to generate, upon request, a real time global sales forecastover a selected time period, by selectively aggregating the stored salesforecast information of each national hierarchical sales structure in atleast one of the plurality of national currencies; converting a currencyof each aggregated stored sales forecast information into the at leastone of the plurality of national currencies, and aggregating each of thecurrency-converted and aggregated stored sales forecast information togenerate the real time global sales forecast.
 20. The machine-readablemedium of claim 19, wherein the original pipeline sales information isaccepted in a plurality of national currencies and wherein the selectiveaggregation step includes the steps of: selecting at least one currencyof the plurality of currencies in which the real time sales forecast isto be generated, and converting the aggregated stored forecastinformation to the selected at least one currency.
 21. Themachine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the pipeline salesinformation-storing step includes a step of transmitting the pipelinesales information to the database over the computer network.
 22. Themachine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the network includes theInternet.
 23. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein eachmember of the sales force of the company is assigned a permission level,the assigned permission level determining which stored sales forecastinformation are aggregated in the real time sales forecast.
 24. Themachine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein a real time sales forecastis generated by aggregating only stored sales forecast informationand/or stored pipeline sales information of those members of the salesforce having a lower permission level than a member of the sales forcehaving requested the real time sales forecast.
 25. The machine-readablemedium of 24, further comprising the step of granting a globalpermission level, the global permission level enabling that member ofthe sales force to whom it is granted to generate a real time salesforecast including all stored sales forecast information and/or allstored pipeline sales information.
 26. The machine-readable medium ofclaim 19, wherein the sales force includes C-level executives of thecompany irrespective of whether the C-level executives have salesresponsibilities.
 27. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, furthercomprising the step of granting a special permission level, the specialpermission level enabling a person to whom it is granted to generate areal time sales forecast of selected stored sales forecast informationand/or selected pipeline sales information.